Booze sampling bill passes Wisconsin Assembly

A bill to allow retailers to offer samples of hard liquor has passed the state Assembly. Representative JoCasta Zamarripa (D-Milwaukee) said the bill puts distillers on an even footing with Wisconsin breweries and wineries, by allowing them to offer just a half a fluid ounce tasting at grocers and retailers.

No one is going to get a buzz on – the sample size amounts to just a tablespoon of booze – and each customer would be allowed only one such sample a day. “They wouldn’t give you any more than that,” Zamarripa said. Still, Representative Joel Kleefisch (R-Oconomowoc) noted there was some opposition to a similar proposal last session.

“I think it was, if you work for the beer industry you don’t want liquor samples, if you work for the wine industry, you don’t want liquor samples, because then fewer people may sample your products,” said Kleefisch, who said that the measure which now heads to the state Senate will ” let the open market decide” what consumers choose to sample in the liquor store.

Lawmakers also approved a bill that would make it a crime to put a GPS tracker on someone’s car with without their consent. “There is no reason that somebody that does not have any ownership interest in property, like a vehicle, has a right to place a GPS tracking device on that person’s automobile,” said the bill’s author, state Representative Adam Neylon (R-Waukesha). The bill would create a Class A misdemeanor for the offense, and includes an exemption that allows parents to track their minor children. The measure now heads to the Senate.

The Assembly also approved a bills allowing the Legislative Audit Bureau to have access to confidential documents maintained by the state Government Accountability Board, and provide Wisconsin residents with the ability to get restraining orders when they’re being harassed from other states,